This invention relates to a method and apparatus for applying liquid fertilizer in planting and, more particularly, commercial forestry applications. The invention specifically discloses the application of liquid fertilizer to a forestry planting site during plantation establishment.
Traditionally, forestry planting sites have been fertilized aerially using solid fertilizer. This is typically an expensive, time consuming and fairly inefficient process. An airplane cannot deliver fertilizer to a forestry bed with pinpoint accuracy. In most cases, a significant amount of fertilizing material is wasted.
Some tree planting operations utilize tractor pulled spreaders to dispense solid fertilizer over the tree seedling beds. This technique usually requires that the bed first be plowed or otherwise cultivated. A tractor then pulls a spreader across the cultivated bed to dispense the fertilizer. Finally, the seedlings are planted. This process is incredibly time, equipment and labor intensive. The numerous passes required to complete the planting can result in enormous expense. Solid fertilizers are also fairly heavy and bulky. This makes them inconvenient to handle, transport and dispense. Moreover, not only is the amount of fertilizer required to complete a job unnecessarily large, it can also cause serious environmental concerns.
To date, liquid fertilizers have been utilized in agriculture planting exclusively. Normally, the liquid fertilizer is dispensed on a field by a sprayer. The nature and volume of most agricultural products makes pinpoint application of liquid fertilizers impractical and undesirable. To date, such fertilizers have not been used in commercial forestry or similar operations.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a system for applying liquid fertilizer in a precisely controlled manner to a seedling bed in a commercial tree farm.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a method and apparatus for dispensing liquid fertilizer in an efficient, precisely controlled and accurate manner to a microsite such as a tree seedling bed so that considerably less fertilizer is needed to adequately fertilize the site.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a technique for fertilizing forestry beds that is very efficient and which saves considerable money, labor and material.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a method for fertilizing forestry beds that is much more efficient than conventional fertilizing techniques.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a system of fertilizing a forestry bed that eliminates the weight, cost, waste, handling and transportation difficulties often associated with conventional solid fertilizers.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a system for fertilizing forestry beds that significantly improves the yield of the bed.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a system for fertilizing a commercial forestry site that significantly reduces application costs.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a system for fertilizing tree farms that is much more environmentally friendly then conventional fertilizing techniques.
This invention results from a realization that seedling beds in a tree farm or similar commercial forestry operation may be fertilized much more quickly, efficiently and inexpensively by applying a liquid fertilizer to the seedling bed or other plantation site more or less contemporaneously with cultivation of the site or planting of the seedling. More particularly, the application of liquid fertilizer may be performed by a dispensing unit that is mounted to a bedding plow, a tree planter or other standard tree farming equipment (e.g. ripper, subsoiler, combination plow or spot cultivator). In this way, fertilizer may be applied while the vehicle is performing its conventional task. This saves substantial equipment and labor costs and allows the fertilizer to be dispensed with pinpoint accuracy so that little, if any fertilizer is wasted. The beneficial results are accomplished primarily because the invention employs liquid fertilizer rather than solid fertilizer, which has been used exclusively to date in commercial forestry operations.
This invention features an apparatus for fertilizing a forestry planting site. The apparatus includes a vehicle or other mobile piece of forestry equipment that is driven or drawn through the forestry planting site to perform a conventional operation other than fertilizing the site. A liquid fertilizer accommodating container is mounted to the vehicle. A conduit is communicably attached to the container and mounted to the vehicle. A dispensing nozzle is carried by a distal end of the conduit generally beneath the vehicle. The nozzle is disposed toward an area of the site to be fertilized. Pump means operably innerconnect the conduit and the container for selectively pumping liquid fertilizer from the container and through the conduit such that the pumped liquid fertilizer is dispensed from the conduit through the nozzle and onto a selected area of the planting site.
In a preferred embodiment, the container may include one or multiple tanks. In embodiments wherein a pair of tanks are used, the fertilizer may include a two-part liquid fertilizer with each part of the fertilizer accommodated in a respective one of the tanks. In such cases, a respective conduit is connected to each of the tanks. Preferably, each conduit includes a flexible hose or other tubular member.
The conduit may be mounted to the vehicle and the dispensing nozzle may be located in various selected locations on the vehicle so that particularly desired fertilizing applications are achieved. For example, the fertilizing apparatus may be mounted to various types of site preparation plows. Such plows are typically pulled by a tractor through a field to cultivate a site. Various types of disk, coulter and ripping implements may be employed in such plows. By positioning the dispensing nozzle(s) at selected locations beneath the frame of the plow, the liquid fertilizer may be dispensed at selected depths in the cultivated site. An appropriate sensor mechanism and control switch may be utilized to turn the pump on and off so that fertilizer is discharged from the nozzle at predetermined intervals. The sensor may comprise a timer and/or a speed sensing mechanism that operates the switch in accordance with calibrated parameters.
This invention also features a method of dispensing liquid nutrient to a forestry planting site. The liquid nutrient is contained within a tank or other container mounted to a vehicle designed to travel through the site. While the vehicle performs a conventional cultivating or planting task (which task is not fertilizing), liquid fertilizer is pumped at predetermined or speed dependent time intervals through a conduit connected to the container. The fertilizer is discharged through a nozzle end of the conduit and onto a selected portion of the site. This enables liquid fertilizer to be directed with pinpoint accuracy to selected portions of the site proximate the tree seedlings being fertilized.
The liquid fertilizer may be dispensed along the site for a predetermined distance prior to and following the location of the seedling. The liquid fertilizer may be dispensed at various depths within a bed or other subsoiled site. This is accomplished typically by mounting the conduit at predetermined locations on the vehicle. For example, on a plow that employs a subsoiling ripper, the discharge nozzle may be positioned directly behind the ripper but forwardly of the trailing disks. This permits liquid nutrient to be dispensed deep within the V-shape furrow formed by the ripper. Alternatively, in a xe2x80x9cMiddle Busterxe2x80x9d plow, which employs a centrally disposed disk arrangement having hydraulic relief, the bottom of the bed can be fertilized again by placing the nozzle proximate the central disk arrangement. In a standard bedding plow, the fertilizer may be dispensed primarily proximate the top of the bed by positioning the conduits so that the discharge nozzle is located between or even behind the standard opposing groups of trailing disks. In alternative embodiments, the positioning of the nozzle can be adjusted so that selected fertilizing patterns and results may be achieved.